I am shocked and disappointed at some of the intolerant and disrespectful comments in this thread.

Just because Einstein's brain worked a bit differently, it is no excuse for the rest of us to join the oppression of the disabling society. He may have had autism or dyspraxia and that is why he chose to express himself in numbers and letters.

We should remember Einstein for what he was - a bright spark in the diversity of humanity.

So yet again we hear the bleating from the likes of "Sanctimonious" in Wellington. Didn't you hear that the Sisterhood lost? Or are you worried about losing your cushy government job? And don't give me that line about "dyspraxia". It's BAD PARENTING. If we got the political correctness out of schools and started administering a few well-aimed smacks you'd see the end of your "dyspraxia" soon enough -- you mark my words.

A: Can you explain the theory of relativity to me?B: Sure. *removes trousers*. Just stick your nose here, in my arse.A: *B: See, now we both have a nose in the arse, but I feel relatively good, while you feel relatively bad.A: And this is how Einstein earns a living?

I cannot adequately express my sadness at the passing of Mr Einstein, and my fear at the adverse effect this will have on the Fab Four, relatively speaking. A calamity of epic proportions, I cannot imagine a worse scenario, unless John should take up with a hippie Chinese artist. Fortunately, that’s not likely.

I've never heard of this Einstein person, but I don't think we should be arguing about him like this. It's all getting a bit heated, can't we just agree to disagree? Everyone is entitled to their point of view (that's what makes life so interesting!!). But it's a lovely sunny day, and there's so much to be thankful for, why can't we all just get along!! I'm sure that's what Mr Einstein would have wanted.

Angry (Cheltenham)I think we should all get back to healthy standard's and moral's, and don't think that the ludicrou's suggestion that E=mc2 is a likely solution to the problem of boyreacers drinking in school if you all went to church instead of being unemployed then we could all complain to god heel sort it out coz hes a bit like John Key but bigger and has a beard.

Ee, that lad Bert, he were a character. We remember him well, we do. He lived just down t’road and there weren’t a day go by when you didn’t see him trudgin’ off to work carrying one of them hypotheses. Aargh, ‘e were different, we knew that, but still there were no side to ‘im. ‘E were as capable of downin’ a pint of scrumpy with the lads as the next man.

Acksh’lly, it was down the Ferr’t ‘n Fox that ‘e ‘ad ‘is greatest triumph.

You see, there were a couple o’ things that young Bert were most fussy about.

‘E ‘ad this notion that the only way to drink cider were out ‘o one of them fancy German beer glasses, the ones with the ‘andle, you know the ones that oi mean? And ‘e were most insistent, ‘e were. “Ere, landlord,” ‘e’d say. “Gi’us one of them fancy German glasses wi’ the ‘andle. Just the one, mind.” The lads used to tease him something rotten about that, they did. That’s ‘ow ‘e got ‘is nickname. ‘One German beer glass’, they called ‘im.

The other little peculiarity ‘e ‘ad were ‘is obsession wi’ what ‘e called time and space. You see, when you’re buyin’ a round for 35 thirsty fellers, it takes a little time to get them from the bar to the table but young Bert, ‘e didn’t ‘old with all that traipsin’ back an forth. The way ‘e figured it, the more glasses ‘e could fit on the space of them barman’s tray, the more time ‘e’d save. And ‘e’d puzzle away at this and we’d be yellin’, “ ‘Ere, Bert, us be dyin’ o’ thirst over ‘ere while you be workin’ that out!”

But ‘e wouldn’t give up, no not our Bert.

And then, one day, ‘e came in. ‘E ‘ad this look about ‘im. It’s the sort ‘o look you see when your wurzel’s got top prize. And ‘e reached into this box – it were like plucking things out ‘o a black ‘ole – and brought out this glass. And ‘e followed it wi’ another glass and another and another and ‘e stacked them as neat as can be on the tray and there weren’t an ounce ‘o space wasted on that tray. My word, you should ‘ave seen the looks. We was dumbfounded we was. We didn’t know glasses could be like this.

And Bert, ‘e turns to his young lady, Emma, oo ‘e were walkin’ out, and ‘e say to ‘er, this little smile peekin’ out under ‘is moustache,“Ee, Em. See? Squared.”

It is quite clear to me that the confused, wrongheaded and downright distastful opinions being aired in this discussion are an inevitable result of allowing numbers and letters to freely mingle and reproduce with one another.

Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against alphabeti's in their place. Some of my best friends are letters. But they should stick to their own and not think that they can come over here and seduce our decent, honest numbers away from good clean mathematics with their foreign ways.

I even saw some of them the other day discussing the square root of minus one!!! That sort of behaviour can only inevitably lead to imaginary numbers, and look where that got us with the economy, eh?

Your response did not display a very inclusive attitude. But I hear your concern about gender. You may appreciate knowing that conditions like autism and dyspraxia affect more boys than girls. But evidence-based research has shown that physical punishment is not a very effective intervention.

Oh, yes, those sort of numbers are always complaining that they're 'complex' and 'easily misunderstood'. It doesn't excuse their behaviour!!!!

A good clip around the ear never did me any harm, and it soon taught me to repress all of my emotional problems and unnatural feelings. What they need is a good spell in the army. They'll soon be marching in easily understood 2/2 time then!!!

Typical lefty feminist media. Ian Wishart broke this story about Einsteins nanny state PC gone mad equation months before the election and did it get picked up no! at least the herald could of given an attrabution to him but did they do that of course not. NZ newspapers are just indoctranated left feminist propaganda machines. where are all the REAL investigative journalists. we need more courageous people like Mr Wishart.